Vanessa Joy Lancellotti was a newlywed preparing to get her life moving when the unthinkable happened — a February 2016 near-death experience that was absolutely terrifying.

“I had a ruptured arteriovenous malformation of the brain … and it’s something that I wasn’t aware I had that you can actually develop … in the womb … before birth,” Lancellotti told CBN News. “And, so, it just ruptured out of nowhere when I was having tea with my two sisters, Amanda and Melissa.”

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The sisters were having a good time when Lancellotti started experiencing sharp pain in the back of her head — an ache so strong she collapsed to her knees in discomfort.

Lancellotti, who tells her story in the new book, “Miracles Really Do Happen!: Jesus Makes All Things New,” said she was “really scared,” and that her sisters rushed to get her to the hospital.

Watch her tell the story:

“I felt [like my head] was wet inside,” she said. “I felt it rupture. I felt the bleed out.”

Lancellotti said she knew what she was experiencing was serious and “life-threatening” and that death might befall her.

“I started preparing myself to meet Jesus because I really felt and believed that, ‘OK, this is it. I think I only have a few minutes left and I better get ready and prepare myself to meet Jesus,'” she said. “And, so, I started to repent the best way that I could and go through kind of my life history.”

She continued to repent while on the way to the hospital, fully prepared to die.

By the time she reached the hospital, she was unable to function. With the hospital ill-equipped to deal with the situation, they prepared to transport her to another facility and loaded her into an ambulance.

“I was preparing to die,” Lancellotti said. “I was not praying like, ‘Oh, Lord, let me be healed,’ because I knew that this was happening quickly. … It was like I was preparing to meet the Lord.”

Suddenly, while in the ambulance, she felt like she had been swept up into a “new place” and all of her pain and fear dissipated.

“I had no recollection of the past at all whatsoever,” she said. “It’s like sin never existed, pain never existed — no physical, spiritual, emotional pain at all. It was all gone, and it was wiped away immediately, and I was in the presence of the Lord. It was just this bright white, vibrant light around me, like this pure, pure white.”

Lancellotti said it is hard to put the experience into words. Overtaken by peace, she said she was suddenly with Jesus.

“I had an encounter with Jesus, like he was standing before me and He was just brilliant,” she said. “He was in brilliant white robes with this light blue sash around him, and I remember I felt like this little girl, like I felt very pure and innocent.”

Lancellotti continued, “And I remember that Jesus — He hugged me. I felt so, so loved … just like I was completely taken out of any trauma and I was in His presence. I was in His arms … He hugged me with His wide open arms and I felt so loved, and like all the fear was gone and I knew that I was protected.”

And then she said the Lord delivered a message she’ll never forget.

“He said to me, ‘It is not yet your time,'” she said. “I went back into the ambulance or back into the hospital.”

What’s most remarkable is the fact that her heart didn’t stop, so at no time was she clinically dead. Yet she doesn’t believe the experience was merely a dream or a vision.

“I was literally in a new place,” Lancellotti said. “I believe I was in paradise. I was with Him in heaven.”

The interaction profoundly transformed her life.

“Right after I had the encounter with Christ and my family was around me, my mom, she’s like, ‘You have such a glow around you,’ and I had such a joy despite what just happened or what we were going through.”

That joy persisted even as she was prepared for surgery. Suddenly, her spiritual awareness was totally illuminated, with Lancellotti focusing on Jesus’ imminent return as well as His care for her.

“He loves me,” she said. “He saved me.”

Afterward, she started attending revivals and learned more about the Holy Spirit. Over time, she said her faith got much stronger.

“Up to that point…I knew I had a strong knowledge and understanding of the Gospel,” she said. “I had a relationship with Christ. But, up until that point, I didn’t really know very much about the power of the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they operate in us as believers.”

Now, Lancellotti is sharing her story in an effort to help build up others’ faith, using her book “Miracles Really Do Happen!: Jesus Makes All Things New” to inspire.

And want more miracles like this? Stream “Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles,” a new documentary from CBN about powerful medical miracles. We’ll leave you with the trailer:

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